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leavingsealevel's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really interesting look at everyday life in Catholic/Republican West Belfast in the 1980s. I also learned quite about about the IRA prisoner hunger strike, and how the mainstream media covered it. John Conroy reminds me of Joe Sacco. A LOT.
tissas1's review against another edition
5.0
This is definitely one of the better books that I’ve read for one of my classes. It gives a good picture of what the Irish troubles were REALLY like, and well, I honestly had no idea. The thing I liked about this book is that there were stories in there from the author about people who lived there and his experiences there. Highly recommend if you’re wanting to know more about the troubles.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
While an interesting look at Northern Ireand, in particular the hunger strikes of the 1980s, I was looking for something more historical and less one sided. To me the issue was the author immersed himself in the Catholic areas and there was very little attention paid to the other side of the story. The further you got into the book the more obvious that this was the catholic story it became.
enb00004's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.0
smlozinski's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely loved this one. I went into it knowing very little about the Troubles, and I liked that the author didn’t seem to assume much prior knowledge from the reader. I loved that the focus of the book was on the big picture as well as the day to day nature of life in a Catholic ghetto.
emlickliter's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life by John Conroy – Another one of my history major novels! Dr. Woodfin has excellent taste, so this one was of course really cool. Happy Reading!
mburnamfink's review against another edition
5.0
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance,
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto,
I've lived all over this town
--The Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
Conroy is American journalist who had a sense that The Troubles, the ongoing violence in North Ireland, was being woefully misreported. He got a grant to spend a year in Belfast, researching just one story. He wound up in a boarding house in Clonard run by Mrs. Barbour, where he experienced 1980 and 1981 from the Catholic perspective.
Conroy's story is one of tension and life under occupation. At this point, a decade into the Troubles and a half century into partition, violence in Belfast was ritualized, professional, but also frighteningly random. The Provos (Provisional IRA) took aimed shots, mostly at the British Army and the police. The counter-force of police sweeps was equally arbitrary, seizing local men on flimsy pretexts. Violence between the Catholic and Protestant communities was mostly ritualized into Marching Season and schoolyard beatings. The extreme segregation of Belfast prevented more frequent encounters, though both sides feared a common holocaust of mass violence, a repeat of the riots which had burned out Bombay street a decade prior. Low level street crime was omnipresent among youths who had no opportunities for legitimate advancement, and were mostly sealed off from the tightly compartmentalized world of IRA operations. Muggings and robberies were omnipresent. The Catholic community distrusted the Protestant police on matters of ordinary law and order, and so the IRA stepped up with rough vigilante justice, kneecapping boys who were particularly troublesome. Belfast was surprisingly livable for a city at war, except when it wasn't. Conroy was held at gunpoint by both sides, and the IRA repeatedly occupied the boarding house to use as a trigger point for a roadside bomb. Even in the drama of the hunger strike by Bobby Sands and nine other Irish martyrs, Belfast mostly gets by.
With present eyesm what is striking about Belfast in the Troubles is how well it set the pattern for the War on Terror and the militarization of domestic policing. Decades before the Patriot Act, the British had their own special laws and courts for dealing with IRA suspects. Twenty foot walls blocked neighborhoods of opposing sects in Belfast before similar barrier went up in Baghdad. And for all the bloodshed, the attitude in London was one of imperial neglect. Of course, Northern Ireland was a vital part of the United Kingdom, but god forbid Britain give civil rights to the entire population, enforce laws on the Protestants' paramilitary groups, or do anything to improve the material conditions of the people of Belfast. Instead, regiments would rotate through, the war would go on, and nothing would change. Because the only thing worse than committing to an unjust and unworkable policy is admitting that it failed.
If you weren't in one of the ghettos, Belfast could be a prosperous, successful, safe, international city. But the imperial border and the so-called 'barbarians' are right there, a few streets away rather than on the other side of the world. As Conroy puts it, the most dangerous wall is the one that runs through the heart, the wall that teaches the next generation who to hate, and who not to care about.
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto,
I've lived all over this town
--The Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
Conroy is American journalist who had a sense that The Troubles, the ongoing violence in North Ireland, was being woefully misreported. He got a grant to spend a year in Belfast, researching just one story. He wound up in a boarding house in Clonard run by Mrs. Barbour, where he experienced 1980 and 1981 from the Catholic perspective.
Conroy's story is one of tension and life under occupation. At this point, a decade into the Troubles and a half century into partition, violence in Belfast was ritualized, professional, but also frighteningly random. The Provos (Provisional IRA) took aimed shots, mostly at the British Army and the police. The counter-force of police sweeps was equally arbitrary, seizing local men on flimsy pretexts. Violence between the Catholic and Protestant communities was mostly ritualized into Marching Season and schoolyard beatings. The extreme segregation of Belfast prevented more frequent encounters, though both sides feared a common holocaust of mass violence, a repeat of the riots which had burned out Bombay street a decade prior. Low level street crime was omnipresent among youths who had no opportunities for legitimate advancement, and were mostly sealed off from the tightly compartmentalized world of IRA operations. Muggings and robberies were omnipresent. The Catholic community distrusted the Protestant police on matters of ordinary law and order, and so the IRA stepped up with rough vigilante justice, kneecapping boys who were particularly troublesome. Belfast was surprisingly livable for a city at war, except when it wasn't. Conroy was held at gunpoint by both sides, and the IRA repeatedly occupied the boarding house to use as a trigger point for a roadside bomb. Even in the drama of the hunger strike by Bobby Sands and nine other Irish martyrs, Belfast mostly gets by.
With present eyesm what is striking about Belfast in the Troubles is how well it set the pattern for the War on Terror and the militarization of domestic policing. Decades before the Patriot Act, the British had their own special laws and courts for dealing with IRA suspects. Twenty foot walls blocked neighborhoods of opposing sects in Belfast before similar barrier went up in Baghdad. And for all the bloodshed, the attitude in London was one of imperial neglect. Of course, Northern Ireland was a vital part of the United Kingdom, but god forbid Britain give civil rights to the entire population, enforce laws on the Protestants' paramilitary groups, or do anything to improve the material conditions of the people of Belfast. Instead, regiments would rotate through, the war would go on, and nothing would change. Because the only thing worse than committing to an unjust and unworkable policy is admitting that it failed.
If you weren't in one of the ghettos, Belfast could be a prosperous, successful, safe, international city. But the imperial border and the so-called 'barbarians' are right there, a few streets away rather than on the other side of the world. As Conroy puts it, the most dangerous wall is the one that runs through the heart, the wall that teaches the next generation who to hate, and who not to care about.
tsmasi's review against another edition
5.0
I was looking for an education on the conflict in Northern Ireland and I certainly got it. We were never taught anything about this in American schools, certainly not in World History class. My son also has no recollection of learning anything about this during his years in high school 2009-2013. I learned so much from this book, but it was so much information I am fried right now. It definitely makes me want to learn more and to read other books on the topic from various perspectives. Again, my brain is fried from all this "new" information!
avianautumnus's review against another edition
American journalist reports the day to day lives of Catholics in West Belfast. Violence institutionalized. Patterns of Catholic suspicion, Protestant siege mentality, and British ineptness in understanding the Catholic-Protestant conflict in North Ireland. Ian Paisley, Bobby Sands, Margaret Thatcher.
adelaidekc's review
5.0
Interesting to read an on-the-ground perspective of life in the North of Ireland from before the Good Friday Agreement.
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